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Meet Skitler

Skitler is a Fennec Fox and an avid traveler. Since he never needs his own ticket, he's a perfect travel companion. He adds visual interest to photos when nobody else will pose and always has a good hair day.

Adventurer McCoy

Illustrated by Doukyusei on deviantART

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Travel Quotes

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." ~St. Augustine

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~Mark Twain

“Half the fun of the travel is the aesthetic of lostness.” ~Ray Bradbury

Back in November of 2016, I was notified that I'd earned my way to the Beachbody Success Club Trip in Punta Cana. It was largely paid for. I was elated. Shelby was going to join me. Sadly, when we went to book, only the most expensive rooms were left, and we couldn't justify the increase in price. We promised each other we'd figure out another trip. So when Shelby told Kristy that there was a flight sale to the Netherlands, we both proclaimed we'd love to see the tulips, and plans were born.

Day 0 - Friday, April 28, 2017
DFW to ATL to AMS
While I absolutely love having the Priority Pass that gives you lounge access, the DFW lounge has to be one of the weakest we’ve been to. Regardless, free beverages even if the staff is slow to restock and a touch rude.

When we found out the flight to Atlanta was going to be delayed, I went to ask the desk if there was anything we could do to help expedite ourselves or the chances the next plane would be held. We only had a 40 minute connection, and I was nervous. Turns out I was speaking to the pilot. He was incredibly kind. He told us about the layout of Atlanta's airport and told us he'd speed. He really did put the pedal to the metal. We wound up somehow landing on time and getting to our gate during the boarding process. He even mentioned me on the intercom!

Doggie rest area in ATL

Day 1 - Saturday, April 29, 2017
We arrived in Schipol around 1pm.

AMS is a really nice airport.

We found the train station (so easy), and, while it wouldn’t take our credit cards (heads up…Visa is not well accepted in the Netherlands) and we had to use my Schwab debit card, we did luck out and each got a free sample of First Choice cola (original American taste) from the company who had a booth in the train station.

Shelby samples First Choice cola with Original American taste

We’d already received train information from our AirBnB host in Leiden, and we took the train to Leiden Central where Dennis, our nice AirBnB host, was waiting to take us to the apartment.

Our AirBnB was large and had character.

We loved the dishes in our AirBnB.

I thought these tulips were fake at first. So pretty.

After getting our bearings, we spent the rest of the day exploring the markets in Leiden.

We enjoyed eating hot stroopwafels, buying fruit, bread, and apple pie, and seeing a little of Leiden and the awesome poetry they have in the sides of buildings throughout​ the city.

The flowers are so inexpensive

Dinner was chicken from the market for Shelby and grocery store chicken from quick shopping at Dirk's grocery for Kristy.

We called it an early night. 12 hours of sleep later, we were ready to go.

I'll admit. I have a problem. I'm addicted to finding deals. I'm addicted to getting coupon codes or promo codes for travel. I want to know that I'm leveraging my money in the best way possible.

Today I booked a stay on Booking.com, and it appeared to be the magic number. I finally got my invite to the Booking.com referral program.If you would like to save $25 on your next stay on Booking.com, please use my link. https://www.booking.com/s/junk0s00You save $25 on your stay. I save $25 on my next stay after your stay is complete.Promo codes and coupon codes for the win!*¤*.¸¸.·´¨»*«´♥`»*«´¨`·.¸¸.*¤*

Spending a summer in a car with Kris provided many
opportunities for laughter. The truth
is, he’s a funny guy. The unique part of
this trip was that I decided to spend time scribing turns of phrase that I
would later dub “Kriserisms”. (I derive this from the word mannerisms. I know there are a lot of "isms" out there and this could easily be called Krisisms, but I don't feel like it's as easy to read.)

Truth is…I
might be the only person to find these funny.

Without further ado, here are some Kriserisms from the
summer of 2015.

·“Need a rest stop? <pause> I hope not…because it’s closed.”

oI (Kristy) might have the smallest bladder known
to man, so Kris was often keeping his eyes peeled for a rest stop, especially
if it had been a while since the last one.
This one teased us.

·“I feel greasy and minty.”

oSaid after I put peppermint essential oil on his
head since he had a headache. I felt terrible
after some of it dripped into his eye.

·“I don’t have to be careful.”

oThis has been Kris’s favorite phrase, but I
abhor it. Any time I say “careful” about
anything, this is Kris’s response.

·“If a bear’s chewing on you, punch it in the
face.”

oWe were going to bear country, and I was asking
how we could protect ourselves. This was
Kris’s advice.

·“This is exactly how I envisioned our vacation.”

oI was part of a FitBit challenge during the
vacation, and I had to get at least 10,000 steps a day. This meant I was often taking steps in the
tent before going to bed. This was said
during one of these moments.

oSaid to me after passing up a restaurant with
all you can eat trout. Because I’m
allergic, Kris pointed out that every day for me is all you can eat fish day.

·“I can talk about physics, but I can’t put on a
pull-over.”

oKris after he put on his pull-over backwards for
the second or third time.

·“If you ever see a sign that says, ‘Do not
spread jam on bread while driving’ that was me.
Sorry.”

·“If Facebook sees me in my doofy hat, it thinks
I’m dad.”

oKris has a funny looking hikers hat. If he’s wearing it in a photo, Facebook asks
if he wants to tag his dad.

·“I like pavement.”

·“Do you have some oil you can rub on your face
for that?”

oSaid any time anything went wrong or anything
hurt after the peppermint oil debacle.

·“I need a break from scenery so scenery becomes
impressive again.”

oWe saw some amazing places.

·“I miss underwear.”

oI wish I remembered why he said this.

·“My plan for San Francisco is...I’m going to
walk around for 3 days asking people where I can get some Rice-a-Roni.”

·“No Welcome to California sign. Just 60 signs telling you what’s not allowed
and an inspection station doing profiling.”

·“It’s still cheaper than going to a laundromat
in Reno. That’s a laundromat/whorehouse.”

So this is just an accounting of some of the funny things my
husband said on vacation.

He tried to collect some Kristyisms, but the only funny
thing I said all trip was during our second or third day of camping.

It was raining every night on us in the tent,
so I wasn’t able to go to the bathroom at leisure, plus making/taking down the
tent was a pain. I apparently woke up
one morning, groaned, and immediately covered my head. When Kris asked what was wrong, I replied,
“Too much camping.” Since it was only
2-3 days into what would be many more weeks of camping, Kris cracked up. This phrase has become part of our
vocabulary. We use it whenever we’re
generally just frustrated with no real reason why.

Today is April 2, 2017...it's been far too long since I've blogged.
I say that Berlin broke the blog...not because I didn't like Berlin...I did. More because seeing the lines that represented the wall that divided the city really hit me deeply...especially since we were seeing this city on July 3rd & 4th (USA Independence Day) in 2014.

Walking the marker that represents the Berlin wall was a somber experience.

When you added up our trip to the Anne Frank House, the readings I'd been doing on the Holocaust, the trip to Dachau, the memorials in Budapest and the Terror Museum...Berlin just cemented it all in.

I haven't successfully written a blog post since. But I will. I'm going to finish Berlin (July 3rd and 4th of 2014) and then I'm going to start from my latest trip and work my way backward. Because I miss the stories...